Dan Dans Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children and their families come first at this inspiring setting where staff go above and beyond for them. Staff warmly welcome all children with smiles and cuddles. All children display exceptionally high levels of emotional well-being. Staff dedicate considerable time to discussing emotions with children using books and puppets, fostering a sense of security and safety. Staff are excellent role models. They prioritise children's language skills exceedingly well. Babies learn to use sign language to communicate. Children who were non verbal when they started are now confident communicators. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are exceptionally well supported. All children make significant progress from their starting points.

Staff plan a highly motivating and extremely stimulating curriculum. Older children explain how they contribute to purchasing toilets in different countries, aiding those living in poverty. Staff foster children's very positive attitudes towards their learning by engaging their interests and passions. For example, children sustain very high levels of concentration and engagement when making a canopy for their hover boat. Babies demonstrate perseverance and motivation when setting up their own high chairs. Their faces light up with joy as they fit the pieces together. Staff join in to celebrate their achievements with claps and high-fives. This fosters consistently high levels of self-esteem in children. The behaviour of all children is excellent.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

• Staff excel at fostering children's social skills. Children are exceptionally kind to others, taking joy in recounting how they sang 'Happy Birthday' to a 'centenarian' friend at the nearby care home. Their behaviour and attitudes are outstanding.
• Children benefit from staff who are exceptionally nurturing, kind and gentle in their approach. Staff create safe havens where children who find it a struggle to regulate their emotions can retreat to when they wish. This promotes children's emotional security excellently.
• The staff strongly advocate for inclusiveness and diversity. They engage in thoughtful, age-appropriate discussions with children about forthcoming celebrations such as Pride. The children show remarkable respect for the diverse family backgrounds of their friends.
• Children demonstrate excellent independence skills. Staff help babies to use visual pictures to identify what they want. Older children are taught how to turn their jumpers inside out to get themselves ready to go outside. All children serve themselves lunch, clear away and wash up their own things to learn to do things for themselves.
• Staff offer outstanding support for children with SEND, tailoring activities and experiences to precisely address learning and development gaps. Staff dedicate considerable time to help children to regain key skills, such as using cutlery, where needed. Children with SEND are provided with excellent personalised learning. They make very good progress. All children flourish and thrive.
• The curriculum is highly ambitious. Children demonstrate very high levels of motivation and engagement working together to collaborate and construct a balance beam. Staff use excellent questioning to pose challenges about how they can make it work. Children demonstrate high level problem-solving skills.
• Staff very effectively promote children's understanding of the world around them. Older children understand terms such as 'sustainability'. They delight in explaining about their 'eco-friendly' sports day and how they reuse resources to support their responsibility to recycle.
• Children benefit greatly from staff who prioritise their developing skills. Staff expertly extend children's mathematical knowledge by introducing dice to show children how to match numbers and symbols. Older children are introduced to terms such as 'alliteration' when they say words beginning with the same letter sound.
• Staff superbly facilitate creative experiences for children, nurturing their imagination. Children take pleasure in jointly exploring paints, extending the activity to create their own handprints. Children relish in concocting ice cream creations outdoors, discussing the various ingredients involved.
• Leaders and managers are inspirational. They have excellent partnerships with external agencies to support families. Funding is used most effectively, for example to provide families with additional sessions and to purchase specialist resources to support individual needs. Leaders have impressive plans for the future. They are passionate about supporting staff's well-being.
• Communication with parents is excellent. Staff provide parents with high levels of support, for example attending appointments and visits with them to ensure their children make significant progress in their development. Parents talk incredibly highly of all staff. They talk of the wealth of experiences that their children have. and how happy they are.